Installing the Agent › Post-Installation Procedures › Configure Backup and Restore Parameters for the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server Using the Central Agent Admin

Configure Backup and Restore Parameters for the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server Using the Central Agent Admin

Use the Central Agent Admin utility to configure the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server backup and restore parameters for supported versions of Microsoft SQL Server. The parameters include settings for Microsoft Virtual Device Interface (VDI) objects and remote communication.

To configure backup and restore parameters for the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server using the Central Agent Admin

1. From the Arcserve Backup Quick Start menu, choose Administration, Central Agent Admin.

   Central Agent Admin opens.

2. In the Windows Systems tree, expand the server on which the agent is installed and then select the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server.

   Click Configuration on the toolbar.

   The Options Configuration dialog opens.

3. Click Agent for Microsoft SQL Server from the list on the left.

   The Options Configuration shows the corresponding SQL Server settings.

4. Specify the synchronized recording under Agent Log Settings as follows:

   Synchronized Recording--Forces the log messages to be written to the Activity Log as they are posted. You can disable this option to improve the performance on high-load systems by caching several messages and writing them as a group.

5. Select the Instance (ARCSERVE_DB) or the name of the instance for which you wish to change configuration for the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server.
6. Set the parameters under Virtual Device Configuration as follows:
   • Number of Stripes--Determines the number of CPUs used to perform backups. Set this value to match the number of CPUs in the database server for the fastest backup performance. The default setting is 1 and the maximum value is 32.
   • Number of Buffers--The total number of VDI buffers (of maximum transfer size) used to back up and restore. The default setting is 1. This number cannot be less than the number of stripes.
   • Data Block Size (in bytes)--All data transfer sizes are multiples of this value. Values must be a power of 2 between 512 bytes and 64 KB inclusive. The default is 65536 or 64 KB.
   • Maximum transfer size--The maximum input or output request issued by Microsoft SQL Server to the device. This is the data portion of the buffer. This parameter value must be a multiple of 64 KB. The range is from 64 KB to 4 MB. The default setting is 2097152 or 2 MB.
   • Maximum VDI Wait Time - Backup (ms)--The time, in milliseconds, a Virtual Device object waits for a response from Microsoft SQL Server during a backup operation. This setting is also used by the agent when waiting for parallel operations to synchronize or background operations to complete, including during some parts of restore operations. The default setting is 600000 ms (ten minutes).
   • Maximum VDI Wait Time - Restore (ms)--The time, in milliseconds, a Virtual Device object waits for a response from Microsoft SQL Server during a restore. Increase this time if the database to be restored contains very large data files. The default setting is 9000000 ms (2.5 hours).
7. Under Named Pipes Configuration, specify the Maximum Connection Wait Time (ms) time, in milliseconds, the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server should wait to close a named pipe if a remote connection fails. The default setting is 400 ms.
8. Set the parameters under Restore Post-Processing Wait as follows:
   • Polling Period (seconds)--The amount of time to wait between checks of the database status. The default setting is 60 seconds (one minute).
   • Maximum Wait Timeout (minutes)--The total amount of time to wait before abandoning the waiting process. If this timeout elapses and the job contains additional Transaction Log sessions to be restored, then those additional sessions may fail to restore because SQL Server is not yet ready. The default setting is 180 minutes (three hours).

   Click Apply to Multiple to display a dialog from which you can select additional SQL Servers. Click OK to apply the settings and return to Configuration.

9. Click OK to end configuration.